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Monday, November 8, 2010

Our Outdoor Hour Nature Study & Yet Another Fall Craft!

I was inspired by a great family blog ( http://handbookofnaturestudy.blogspot.com/p/outdoor-hour-challenges.html ). Because of Crew and Goose's ages, we are not doing the whole curriculum but are implementing an Outdoor Hour each week. As a family we spend a lot of time outdoors hiking, biking, etc. We are going to have an Outdoor Hour of fun in nature with a little bit of a structured twist each week. We recently went on a walk along a local trail that follows a creek through trees, over bridges, etc.

On our walk the kiddos had a bag to collect items that represent Fall and we stopped and drew some observations.

Goose found a big pile of crunchy leaves to jump in! That face is priceless to a mom!!

We stopped on a bridge by the creek to draw our observations. Goose found a great pencil holder so they wouldn't roll away. Very creative!

Goose's drawing of a tree with Fall colored leaves

Crew's final drawing

We ended up going home with a trunk load of sticks. What did he do with the sticks you ask? I should have taken a picture of his tepee in the front yard!

They also enjoyed floating sticks down the creek.

We have also been reading lots of books about Fall. Two of our favorites are Fall Leaves Fall by Zoe Hall and The Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert. In the story Fall Leaves Fall, the characters enjoy jumping in leaves, raking, making art, etc. We too did the same!

An art project Inspired by the book Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert

Water coloring a background for our leaf men using Fall colors

Yes, those are googly eyes and I know they are not from nature. The kiddos couldn't live without them!

The kiddos LOVED our Outdoor Hour and are looking forward to the next one!